Slip resistant surfaces

ABSTRACT

An improved slip and/or skid resistant surface is provided for work gloves, work shoes, floor coverings in work areas and the like. The surface of the invention provides a porous gripping surface particularly useful in greasy and oily environments where it is necessary for a workman to be able to grip mechanical devices or loose objects having a coating of oil or grease. The surface of the invention is a foam surface laminated to a substrate. The foam, prior to lamination, may be foamed with varying amounts of air depending upon the degree of abrasion resistance required. The foaming may be by mechanical or chemical means.

BACKGROUND AND STATEMENT OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to methods for producing a laminate useful in themanufacture of wearing apparel, for example, or floor coverings and tolaminates so produced wherein a slip resistant or skid resistantgripping surface is required. The laminate includes a porous foamedsurface which is useful as a gripping surface for the work environment,and the method of the invention is such that the gripping surface may becontrolled to have a lesser or greater degree of abrasion resistance, asrequired for the subsequent use of the article involved. The inventionincludes a substrate which may be a fabric web comprised of a non-wovenfibrous web, such as needled felt, a knitted fabric web such as knittedjersey, or a woven fabric, for example. The substrate may be comprisedof natural or synthetic fibers or blends thereof including, for example,polyester, or a polyester-cotton blend. The foamed surface is applied tothe substrate. The resulting foam surface is porous, as will beunderstood, and has the property of absorbing oil, water or grease onsurfaces so as to provide an enhanced gripping property to the skidresistant surface of the invention. The foam may be comprised ofpolyurethane, for example, polyvinyl chloride, acrylonitrile, neoprene,or other natural or synthetic rubbers. In addition, in certainapplications, it may be appropriate to include a moisture barrierbetween the substrate and the foam surface. The barrier may be appliedas a coating on the substrate, for example. Representative moisturebarrier coatings include polyvinyl chloride, acrylonitrile, natural orsynthetic rubbers. The moisture barrier layer will be selected to becompatible with the subsequently applied foam layer, as will beunderstood.

In the past, it has been conventional, in order to apply grippingsurfaces to work gloves and such items of wearing apparel or skidresistant floor coverings, to provide a textured surface in one form oranother. However, certain disadvantages are involved in the use of suchtextured surfaces in work gloves and the like in that in an oily orgreasy environment, the gripping is not to the degree necessary in orderto provide a firm gripping action for a workman in a dangeroussituation. Also, such wearing apparel, and particularly work gloves insome forms, have a tendency to be stiff and unyielding in use.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

With this invention, by contrast, the laminate of the invention providesa substantially increased gripping action to a surprising degree. Thatis, with the laminate of the invention comprised of a substrate to whicha foamed surface is applied, the porous foamed surface serves to providea combined gripping of the object to be held and an absorption of theoil, grease or water on the surface which would ordinarily make itslippery. The degree of safety involved when using work gloves formedaccording to the invention is extraordinary as compared to prior arttextured surfaces. At the same time an enhanced suppleness is built intoarticles of clothing including work gloves, making them more comfortableand again, safer for gripping articles in the work environment. Whilethe surfaces herein are ordinarily appropriate for use in workenvironments to provide a gripping action for oily or greasy surfaces,it will be appreciated that floor coverings or decks on boats, forexample, may utilize the laminate of the invention with the slipresistant surface to provide a gripping action for passengers on a boatin an area exposed to water routinely. Other uses may be surfaces forfloor coverings in galleys of aircraft and the entrances thereof inorder to avoid the slipping of passengers or aircraft personnel inenvironments where there may be moisture, oil, or grease on the floor.

In considering generally the conditions for carrying out the inventionhere for producing the skid resistant and/or "oil grip" surface of theinvention, one may note that it is preferable to use a syntheticnon-woven web as the substrate, although it will be appreciated that aknitted or woven web may also be used, depending upon the ultimateapplication of the skid resistant surface herein. Also, the skidresistant surface can be applied over other substrates including coatedfabrics, coated gloves, or any continuous surface including unsupportedgloves which contain no fabric. As discussed above, such coatings mayinclude a liquid impervious coating applied to the substrate to closeany interstices therein. Such continuous coatings protect the user ofwork gloves, for example, from the liquid involved in the workenvironment for which the skid or slip resistant coating is utilized.

Representative fibrous non-woven webs may be comprised of wool,polyesters, polyamides, such as Kevlar or Nomex which are products ofDuPont, polyolefins, such as polypropylene and polyethylene andcopolymers of acrylic acid, such as polyacrylonitrile. If a knitted websubstrate is used, it may be cotten, polyester, or a cotton-polyesterblend. If it is woven, it may be nylon or cotton. The material formingthe foamed surface portion of the laminate, in accordance herewith, asdiscussed above, may be polyurethane, polyvinyl chloride, acrylonitrile,natural or synthetic rubber. The material is foamed either by mechanicalor chemical means. Preferably, it is foamed by mechanical means to havean air content within the range of between about 10 and 65 percent. Thepreferred range is 15 to 30 percent. Better abrasion resistance isobtained with a lower air content within the ranges noted above, whilebetter grip and less abrasion resistance is obtained with an air contentof a higher percent within the ranges noted above. If a coated substrateis utilized as a moisture barrier, for example, the coating will beselected to be compatible with the subsequently applied foam surfacelayer. Representative coatings applied to the substrates of theinvention include polyvinyl chloride, acrylonitrile, natural rubbers orsynthetic rubbers.

One of the important aspects of the invention here is the fact that thesurface may be renewed for its gripping function. That is, assuming awork glove with a porous gripping surface, in accordance with thisinvention, once the glove has been used for a period of time so that itmay lose its gripping properties, the glove may be merely squeezed toremove the oil or grease build up within the pores of the glove to renewits gripping properties. Obviously, as will be understood, if thesurface of the invention is used in an environment where water is thematerial causing the slipping or slippery environment, it will evaporateover a period of time when the gripping surface is not being used. Thisis particularly true in skid resistant deck coverings for boats, forexample.

With the foregoing and additional objects in view, this invention willnow be described in more detail, and other objects and advantagesthereof will become apparent from the following description, theaccompanying drawing, and the appended claims.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

The single drawing is a perspective view partially broken away of aglove illustrating the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring to the single drawing, a work glove 10 is shown with a foamedsurface 12. The breakaway line 26 delineates the border between thesubstrate 16 and the backside surface 12. The glove 10 includes a thumbportion 18 and individual finger portions 14. The backside portion 12,may or may not be coated with the foam skid resistant surface of theinvention depending upon particular applications, while the palm portionas represented by the surface 20 on thumb 18 and surface 21 will becoated to provide the skid resistant surface. The glove, in the vicinityof the wrist may include an elastic insert 24 in order to provide agripping property to the glove around the wrist, once the glove ispulled onto the hand. The cuff 22 may be coated in a manner similar tothe rest of the glove. Alternatively, the cuff may be comprised merelyof the substrate material 16 and left uncoated. A moisture barrier 28may be applied to substrate material 16, if so required for certainapplications.

The invention is such that the article which is to have the oil gripand/or skid resistant surface of the invention may be formed into anarticle such as a glove or work boot, for example, and subsequently theformed article may be dipped to have applied to it the compounded foamedmaterial to the desired surfaces such as the palm of a glove or the soleof a work boot. Once the application is made of the compounded foamedmaterial, it is then cured in place. Alternatively, the substrate may beformed first by having a sheet of the substrate woven or non-wovenfabric for example, and applying the foamed material to it and curingthe foamed layer prior to taking that formed laminate material andcutting it into pieces to be sewn into an article. It is less expensive,from a production standpoint, as will be understood by practitioners inthe art, to dip an entire article already formed into the foamedmaterial forming the outer surface, than to cause a coating to be formedon only selected portions of the article. However, full dipping usesmore foamed material.

With respect to the foamed coating material used for applying to thesubstrate for forming the article, in accordance with this invention,representative such compositions are as follows. It is to be understood,however, that these representative compositions are being presented withthe understanding that they are to have no limiting character on thebroad disclosure of the invention as generally set forth herein and asdirected to men skilled in the art.

    ______________________________________                                        Material         Parts by Dry Weight                                          ______________________________________                                        COMPOSITION 1                                                                 Polyvinyl Chloride Latex                                                                       100                                                          Plasticizer       70 to 120                                                   Surfactant       1 to 5                                                       Pigment          1                                                            Thickener        5                                                            COMPOSITION 2                                                                 Acrylonitrile Latex                                                                            100                                                          Surfactant       0.15 to 1                                                    Zinc Oxide       3                                                            Pigment, Thickener                                                                             5                                                            COMPOSITION 3                                                                 Polyurethane Latex                                                                             100                                                          Crosslinking Agent                                                                             5                                                            Surfactant       3                                                            Pigment          1                                                            Thickener        1                                                            ______________________________________                                    

Once the foamed layer is applied, it is cured by conventional meansincluding the application of heat, or by chemical cross-linking.

As further illustrative of the method of the invention, one may note thefollowing example in which a laminate was prepared, which laminate wasthen cut into pieces and sewn into a glove. It is to be understood,however, that this example is being presented with the understandingthat it is to have no limiting character on the broad disclosure of theinvention as generally set forth herein and as directed to men skilledin the art.

EXAMPLE 1

A three liter container was charged with 3.17 pounds of Polyco 2622, apolyvinyl chloride latex manufactured by Borden Chemical, a division ofBorden Inc. of Leominster, Mass. Gentle mixing was begun with a mixerusing a low shear impeller. While mixing, 8 grams of a sodium alkylethersulfate, Emersal 6453 manufactured by Emery Industries, Inc.,Cincinnati, Ohio; 640 grams of DOP, a plasticizer manufactured by BASFWyandotte, Parsippany, N.J.; 24 grams of Admex 710, a plasticizermanufactured by Sherex Chemical Co., Inc., Dublin, Ohio; 8 grams ofW7017, a pigment manufactured by Harshaw Chemical Co., Cleveland, Ohio;and 10 grams of a 50% aqueous solution of Acrysol GS, a thickenermanufactured by Rohm and Haas Co., Philadelphia, Pa. was added to thelatex. This mixture was then blended with air to yield a density ofabout 0.8 grams per cubic centimeter.

The resulting composition containing approximately 20% air by volume wasdirectly knife-coated onto an unnapped knitted cotton fabric at a knifesetting of 65 mils. This laminate was then placed in a 325° F. oven for20 minutes to dry and fuse the coated material. Pieces were then cutfrom the material and sewn into a pair of gloves.

While the methods and products herein disclosed form preferredembodiments of the invention, this invention is not limited to thosespecific methods and products, and changes can be made therein withoutdeparting from the scope of the invention, which is defined in theappended claims. For example, as will be appreciated bypractitioners-in-the-art, various polymeric coatings may be utilizedselected from a wide variety of polymers in order to have an ultimategripping surface of varying properties and appearance depending upon theapplication of the apparel or floor covering which may be formulated.Also, it will be appreciated that a substrate may be formed to provide,initially, a roughened surface to which the foamed material is appliedin order to provide not only an "oil grip" type surface but also atextured gripping surface in combination.

As illustrative of a procedure for providing such a textured substratesurface for the subsequent application of the foamed skid resistantmaterial, in accordance herewith, reference is made to co-pendingapplication Ser. No. 233,743 filed Feb. 12, 1981 which is incorporatedherein by reference in its entirety. The development of a roughenedtextured substrate in accordance with the teachings of that applicationmay be useful, depending upon the subsequent use to which an articleformed in accordance with this invention is to be used. That is, an oilgrip surface which is porous and absorbs greasy or oily materials on awork object and provides in addition, a textured gripping action willenhance the ability of a workman, for example, to grip and hold objectsin the work environment.

It will be appreciated further, that the objects of the inventionherein, since they may be formed into final articles prior to theapplication of an oil gripping surface, or they may be formed from apreviously prepared laminate of the oil gripping surface and asubstrate, many different mass production techniques may be utilized inthe formulation of articles in accordance with this invention. Obviouslya variety of mass production techniques may be applied making theproducts of the invention here highly advantageous commercially.

I claim:
 1. A laminate for providing a garment having an exposed slipresistant gripping surface for use in a grease, oil or water workenvironment, characterized by(a) a substrate, said substrate being amember selected from the group consisting of a non-woven fibrous web, awoven web, and a knitting web; (b) a foamed layer applied to one surfaceof said substrate; (c) said foamed layer forming the outer grippingsurface for a garment made from such laminate; and (d) said foamed layerhaving an air content within the range of between about 10 to 65percent.
 2. The laminate of claim 1, further characterized by(a) saidfoamed layer is a member selected from the group consisting ofpolyurethane, polyvinyl chloride, acrylonitrile; natural rubber,synthetic rubber and mixtures thereof.
 3. The laminate of claim 1,further characterized by(a) said foamed layer having an air contentwithin the range of between 15 to 30 percent.
 4. The laminate of claim1, further characterized by(a) said substrate is comprised of a materialselected from the group consisting of wool, polyesters, polyamides,cotton, polypropylene, polyethylene, polyacrylonitrile, nylon andmixtures thereof.
 5. The laminate of claim 1, further characterizedby(a) a moisture barrier coating on one surface of said substrate; and(b) said foamed layer applied to said moisture barrier coating.
 6. Thelaminate of claim 5, further characterized by(a) said moisture barriercoating is selected from the group consisting of polyvinyl chloride,acrylonitrile, synthetic rubber, natural rubber, and mixtures thereof.